Analysis & Opinion

MELBOURNE Aug 23 (Reuters) - BHP Billiton Ltd
has cut bonus payouts to its top executives, as
total returns to shareholders fell over five years, even though
the top global miner beat its target for outperforming its peers
over that period.

New Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie, who was first poached
from rival Rio Tinto in 2008, also gave up
shares worth 941,000 pounds ($1.47 million) at Thursday's close
that were due to him from his sign-on bonus.

In total, Mackenzie was awarded shares worth 4.6 million
pounds, after the company decided to pay out only 65 percent of
long-term share bonuses. That left him 3.9 million pounds short
of the total he could have earned.

BHP cut bonus payouts largely because total returns to
shareholders (TSR) were negative rather than positive over the
five years to June 2013, although at negative 9.4 percent, BHP's
return looked far better than the negative 44 percent return
suffered by its peers.

That was above the company's target to outperform peers by
at least 31 percent.

"While the Committee recognised that the TSR performance was
delivered in a difficult business environment, it also felt that
more closely aligning the experience of shareholders and
executives was important," the company said in a statement to
the Australian stock exchange.

It also took into account factors such as fatality trends
and capital project performance.

Former CEO Marius Kloppers was awarded shares worth A$11.5
million ($10.4 million) at Thursday's close, which was A$6.2
million short of what he could have earned.